Hurley Silhouette Mk III 17ft Bilge Keel Pocket Yacht
For Sale, our Silhouette Mk III, 'Spike'. Spike is in great condition and is a hoot to sail. Our reason for selling, is to move to a larger boat so I can take all 3 'crew' with me. He is a very handsome boat though. Spike can be launched from the trailer that he comes with or by crane if required. Kit includes, 2 mains, 1 foresail, fenders, ropes, anchors x2, Yamaha outboard (1 think 3.5 HP-will need to check), seat cushions, depth sounder, speed display. From the very active and informative Silhouette owners site: The Silhouette was designed by Robert Tucker, a naval architect who loved dinghy cruising, which involved sailing by day and camping on the bank or beach by night. Mr Tucker felt that it would be a good idea to make a dinghy with a lid on it and avoid sleeping on the cold ground. He did not fancy a capsizable craft, so he set-to and designed a little cruising yacht and the Silhouette was born. In the first one was built, called "Blue Boy", for the cost of £85. This was the Mk1 and 29 were built. With the success of "Blue Boy" Robert Tucker redesigned and built the Mk 2 and the first was named "Susanne"; she was built for just over £100 by Yarmouth Boat Builders. In a Mk2 was put in the London Boat, Caravan and Camping Show. It was at this show George Hurley first met Robert Tucker and saw the Silhouette, Mr Hurley was showing caravans at the same show. Around the same time Ernie Miners, a carpenter who worked for George Hurley, asked permission from George to build himself a 'Redwing' dinghy on the premises at Richmond Walk. Seeing the dinghy being built, George decided that his factory could also build boats. In George Hurley started to build Silhouette Mk2s and at the London Boat Show that year entered a Silhouette for the all-up price of £265. Around of these ply Mk 2s were build between and when Hurley had changed over to just GRP. In experiments where made with this new material called glass fibre, this was first used for sinks for the caravans and boats, then a mould was made for a Silhouette deck fitted into a ply hull. In Hurley also started building the Mk 2 in glass fibre. About 370 of these were built between and . In the Silhouette was redesigned again as the Mk3: round bottom, all GRP. About 365 of these were built between and . In the Mk 4 was designed and built at Hurley Marine between and and 25 were built. After Hurley Marine went out of business in , the moulds were sold to Russell Curnow of Marazion, Cornwall and Silhouettes were built there up to . R Curnow also built a Mk 5, the price in was £ complete. R Curnow also built the H18 after Hurley Marine. From there the moulds for the Silhouette went to and were built by Varne Yachts who later became Weston Boats and they went out of business in ovno. Ad ID: Delivery Service Consumer Credit